Digital economy and farmers’ income inequality – a quasi-natural experiment based on the “broadband China” strategy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the 2010–2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, this paper uses the ‘Broadband China’ strategy as a proxy variable for the digital economy and evaluates the impact of the digital economy on farmers’ income inequality by using the DID method. We find that the digital economy can significantly reduce farmers’ income inequality. Mechanism tests find that the digital economy reduces farmers’ income inequality by promoting labour mobility for low-income farmers and increasing the volume of credit available to low-income farmers.